2. Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU

Over the last years, mobile robot platforms are having a key role in education worldwide. Among others, LEGO Robots and MATLAB/Simulink are being used mainly in universities to improve the teaching experience. Most LEGO systems used in the literature are based on NXT, as the EV3 version is relatively recent. In contrast to the previous versions, the EV3 allows the development of real-time applications for teaching a wide variety of subjects as well as conducting research experiments. The goal of the research presented in this paper was to develop and validate a novel real-time educational platform based on the MATLAB/Simulink package and the LEGO EV3 brick for academic use in the fields of robotics and computer science. The proposed framework is tested here in different university teaching situations and several case studies are presented in the form of interactive projects developed by students. Without loss of generality, the platform is used for testing different robot path planning algorithms. Classical algorithms like rapidly-exploring random trees or artificial potential fields, developed by robotics researchers, are tested by bachelor students, since the code is freely available on the Internet. Furthermore, recent path planning algorithms developed by the authors are also tested in the platform with the aim of detecting the limits of its applicability. The restrictions and advantages of the proposed platform are discussed in order to enlighten future educational applications.

Educational robotics has come to the classrooms and is here to stay. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) learning has put the use of robots in classrooms in vogue, though these are mostly closed products and at a high price. The educational innovation project “Design, implementation and tests of a modular low-cost educational robotics platform” from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, expects to design an open, modular and low-cost educational robot to make robotics more accessible. One of the challenges which the project hopes to accomplish is for this robot to be able to adapt to any educational level, thanks to its modularity, from pre-school to university levels. This study analyzes the Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering degree students’ level of acceptance. Therefore, an analysis of the currently most used educational robots at any level has been made, comparing them to the project design. Moreover, a survey was passed to a total 78 students from several degrees to compare the level of acceptance, concluding that students show a general interest in the proposal, but not so among those of the study group, probably due to the lack of robotics knowledge. / La robótica educativa ha llegado a las aulas para quedarse. El aprendizaje STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) ha puesto en boga el uso de los robots en las clases pero, en su mayoría, son productos cerrados y a un alto precio. El proyecto de innovación educativa «Diseño, implementación y puesta en práctica de una plataforma modular de robótica educativa de bajo coste» de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria pretende diseñar un robot educativo abierto, modular y de bajo coste para hacer más accesible la robótica. Uno de los retos que pretende alcanzar es que dicho robot, gracias a su modularidad, sea capaz de adaptarse a cualquier nivel educativo, desde infantil hasta grados universitarios. Este estudio analiza el nivel de aceptación por parte de los estudiantes del Grado en Ingeniería en Diseño Industrial y Desarrollo de Productos, realizando un análisis de los robots educativos más usados en la actualidad en todos los niveles y comparándolos con la propuesta del proyecto. Además, se realizó una encuesta a 78 alumnos de ingeniería, concluyendo que muestran un interés general por la propuesta, pero no tanto entre los del grupo de estudio, probablemente debido a la falta de conocimientos de robótica.

The implementation of robotics in schools is inevitable in the years to come. Currently, this integration is not feasible for all schools (especially public ones) due to the high economic cost, which in most cases offer a closed system (both hardware and software) which limits the robot to a single educational level. The educational innovation project "ROBOT-EDULPGC, Design, implementation and implementation of a low-cost modular educational robotics platform" of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, seeks to offer an educational platform designed for use at all educational levels (multidisciplinary), with free hardware and software, and low cost, thus eliminating the economic barrier. This work reflects the results of a statistical study carried out on students of different engineering degrees, in particular those of the Degree in Industrial and Automatic Electronic Engineering, all belonging to the School of Industrial and Civil Engineering at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. A specific survey has been carried out, designed specifically to evaluate the integration of robotics in their degree as a teaching tool and on project-based teaching as opposed to traditional teaching. / La implementación de la robótica en los centros de enseñanza es algo inevitable en los años venideros. Actualmente, esta integración no es asumible por todos los centros (especialmente los públicos) debido al elevado coste económico, que en la mayoría de las ocasiones ofrecen un sistema cerrado (tanto en hardware como software) lo que limita el robot a un solo nivel educativo. El proyecto de innovación educativa “ROBOT-EDULPGC, Diseño, implementación y puesta en práctica de una plataforma modular de robótica educativa de bajo coste” de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, busca ofrecer una plataforma educativa pensada para usarse en todos los niveles educativos (multidisciplinar), con hardware y software libre, y de bajo coste eliminando así la barrera económica. Este trabajo refleja los resultados de un estudio estadístico realizado a estudiantes de diferentes titulaciones de ingeniería, en particular a los del Grado en Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial y Automática, todos pertenecientes a la Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales y Civiles en la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Se ha realizado una encuesta diseñada específicamente para evaluar la integración de la robótica en su titulación como herramienta didáctica y sobre la enseñanza basada en proyectos frente a la tradicional.